TwinMesh for Reliable CFD Analysis of Screw Compressors and Expanders

Combining TwinMesh and ANSYS CFD offers engineers a unique, efficient and fast workflow for transient, three-dimensional computational fluid and thermal analysis (cfd) of Screw Compressors, Expanders and Superchargers.

Developers of Screw Machines Need to:

  • Analyse the impact of changing operation requirements (e.g pressure difference, rotation speed, impact of external temperatures, etc.)
  • Have a deep understanding of their machine dynamics
  • Be able to answer specific customer demands (CoP, noise emission)
  • Produce fast and reliable answers

Thanks to our novel software TwinMesh real virtual product development is now available for twin screw machines! TwinMesh and ANSYS CFD together allow for efficient and reliable CFD analysis of screw compressors and expanders.

CFD analysis of screw compressors - 2D View on rotor meshes
CFD analysis of screw compressors - 3D view on rotor mesh

No More Numerical Limits

Common limitations of CFD software packages for screw compressor or expander geometries such as limited physics, insufficient mesh resolution or numerical errors due to bad mesh quality or interpolation errors or overlapping mesh method are redundant for the TwinMesh approach.

Using structured grids from the TwinMesh software engineers of screw machines get access to the full capability of CFD modelling available in ANSYS CFD. The high quality meshes from TwinMesh result in reliable and stable CFD simulations at moderate model sizes and moderate calculation times for transient analysis. Even for multiphase simulation such as oil-injected or water-cooled screw compressors and expanders.

Reliable CFD Analysis of Screw Compressors and Expanders

And what can designers expect? CFD analysis results generated with TwinMesh and ANSYS CFD provide design engineers of oil-free (single-phase) and oil-injected (multi-phase) screw compressors and screw expanders with essential information such as:

  • Velocity, pressure, and temperature fields within the working chambers, in axial and radial clearances, and in suction and discharge ports
  • mass flow rates at different operation points
  • Torques, moments, forces and machine efficiency (CoP)
  • Leakage and losses
  • Pulsation behaviour of the machine
  • Mechanical wear, lubrication and cooling
  • Duration and magnitude of acoustic sources (emission)

TwinMesh and ANSYS CFD together make a reliable, modern, and state-of-the-art engineering tool, which allows for fast, reliable and efficient analysis and optimization of oil-free and oil-injected screw machines.

CFD analyis of screw compressors - visualization of wall temperature and flow in axial gaps

Better Designs

Increase machine performance, efficiency, and durability by a better understanding of complex phenomena inside your machine.

g

Speed & Flexibility

Reduce your time-to-market and fasten your response time to changing demands significantly by massive use of virtual prototyping.

Drive Innovation

Drive real innovation by getting deeper insight into the details of your products and their interaction with connected systems.

Reduced Costs

Reduce development and manufacturing costs by massive use of virtual product development instead of time consuming measurements on physical prototypes.

CFD Results of Screw Compressor and Screw Expander Simulations

Animations of Screw Compressor Simulations

Flow in working chambers of a screw expander

Oil-injected screw compressor (multiphase)

Screw Compressor CFD considering bending line due to pressure forces
SRM screw compressor with heating of rotor and casing solids

Related blog entries